I Owe You a Debt
by GeekyChic123
Summary: An AU where Clint is captured by Hydra, and Natasha has to save him.
1. Chapter 1

Coulson was not scared by much. He had been working with Shield long enough that it took quite a bit to shake him. He had led teams into missions he knew most of them would not emerge from. He had heard secrets that could destroy the world. He had been the one to approach the Black Widow with an offer to join Shield, after Hawkeye insisted she would be a good asset to the team. All of those things had been hard to do, but they hadn't scared him. Not in the way that he was scared right now.

He paused outside of the debriefing room, took a deep breath, reshuffled the papers in his head, and gathered his thoughts. Maybe she would handle the news well. Things weren't totally helpless yet, she might even think this was nothing to worry about, and be annoyed Coulson had pulled her out of the gym just to inform her that Clint had been captured by Hydra.

It would be nice if that happened. But Phil knew his agent better than that, there was no way Natasha was going to be ok with this.

Taking a deep breath, he entered the room. Natasha was sitting at the table already, eyes scanning the room, as if looking for a way to escape. Phil tried to smile, she didn't smile back. He wasn't surprised.

"Agent Romanoff, thank you for meeting me on such short notice." The agent's face didn't change. "What's wrong? Is the world ending, or did you just suddenly have the urge to call me in for a meeting because you wanted to talk about a new Captain America trading card that you found?"

Phil actually smiled at this. "Now that you mention it, heh, if you have time later I did find a new one, limited edition, I only need three more to finish this set….. Maybe if you want to see it later, I actually have it with me if you want me to show you after this meeting….." Natasha's eyes narrowed, Phil cleared his throat.

"Anyway. That's besides the point. Natasha, I called you in here today because I do have some unfortunate news for you….. I hate to be the one to tell you this but…. Agent Barton has been compromised."

Natasha visibly tensed up at this news, her fingers clenched into fists on the table, and she took a deep breath. "Where was he last heard from?" "We sent him on an undercover mission, he was supposed to infiltrate a Hydra base so that he could gather intel for us."

The Black Widow's eyes flared angrily. "What? Why would you send him to one of those?! Why the hell didn't you send me instead?" "We needed a male for this job, and we also needed someone that Hydra didn't already have on their 'kill on sight' list.

She was glaring at him, the look on her face would send most men running from the room. "Well, why didn't you tell me he was going on the mission then? I could have helped you! Given you intel, I could have been there to have his back!"

She wasn't yelling yet, but her voice was getting louder with every word that came out of her mouth. Phil put on his authoritative, "I am your handler you do what I say" attitude. "We didn't tell you because this mission was strictly confidential Romanoff. The council decided that it was in everyones best interest that you not be involved in this one."

If looks could kill, Coulson would have been dead and buried by now. "Oh, well is it in anyones best interest that my partner was captured, and is going through who knows what now because I wasn't there to cover his back? I've been here for almost two years now Coulson, I should have been told about this."

Phil grimaced. "This wasn't my fault Natasha, if I'd had a choice I would have sent you with him, this was up to Fury and the council. Technically I'm not even supposed to tell you about this, but Fury owed me a favor, and I thought that you should know. We honestly don't know anything right now, just where he was last heard from, and that we lost contact with him two days ago."

Natasha opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Clint held up a hand to stop her. "I'm sorry Romanoff, I can't tell you anything more than that. I just wanted to let you know. I'll keep you updated when I hear anything- Well,I'll keep you updated on what I'm allowed to tell you. We're doing everything that we can to find him."

Natasha's hands were still clenched in fists. "Are you sending me out there to look for him?" Coulson paused for a long moment, and sighed. "I'm sorry Natasha, the council doesn't think that's a good idea. They want you to go on a surveillance mission in Chicago."

The Black Widow stood up angrily, and pushed her hair out of her face. "If you're not sending me in there, you are not doing everything to find him. You know I'm his best chance, without me he's as good as dead." Her handlers shoulders slumped down and he shuffled the papers still in his grasp helplessly.

"I don't know what I can tell you Romanoff. Actually I do know- I can't tell you anything. It's strictly confidential. The council wants you to go on this surveillance mission, you leave tomorrow, Fury hoped it would help you keep your mind off of things."

He held out the packet of files, and Natasha ripped them from his hand. "Do you know what a huge mistake you're making Phil?" He sighed, "You know this isn't my fault. If it was up to me, I would have you out on a plane tonight. But I can't tell you to go against the councils orders."

Natasha held his gaze for a long moment, finally broke eye contact. "Thanks for telling me about Barton. I'll see you when I get back."

Phil assumed that she meant when she got back from Chicago. He should have known Natasha better than that, she was already figuring out what she was going to have to do in order to get her partner back before the end of the week.


	2. Chapter 2

Getting a plane that would take her to where Clint had last been seen was surprisingly easy. Because the first thing she had done, was resign herself to the fact she would be doing this mission totally solo. With no help, and absolutely no input from Shield. The only thing that she had from them was the gun in her holster, and the file she'd downloaded from the database. The database that was supposedly impossible to hack into, but that she had cracked the code of in less than two minutes.

Sure, it would have been easier to hijack a plane, or at the very least a hell of a lot faster. But that would draw attention to this little undercover job, the last thing that Natasha had wanted or needed was attention. And so, she had grabbed her money, and her weapons, stuffed some clothes into a bag, and made her way to the nearest airport. With any luck Coulson would think she was off hiding somewhere, sulking about him telling her what to do, waiting to board a plane for the job in Chicago. With any luck they wouldn't realize she was gone until tomorrow afternoon, when her plane would be waiting for an assassin that would just never show up.

Of course then Coulson would be alerted, Fury would find out, best case scenario they would declare her a traitor for going against orders, worst case scenario they would think she had finally shown her true colors and abandoned the agency that had taken her in so many years ago. But that was a problem for the future, right now Natasha was just trying to get on this damn plane, and start the journey towards her partner.

She had purchased her ticket already, now she was waiting in the dully tacky bar that was tucked in away in a corner of the airport. It wasn't the best hiding place in the place, and because of that, she knew Shield would think better of her, and not even check this area. If they even knew she was gone yet.

Natasha ordered her drink, and let it sit on the bar, untouched next to her open computer. The file she'd taken was tucked away in the purse at her feet, she'd already memorized the important information of it, and didn't feel comfortable having it out in the open. There were too many people here, and you never knew who might be watching.

The assassin was typing coordinates into her laptop, and reaching out to the connections that she still had across the country. She was fairly sure she knew where Barton was, but it would be nice if she asked the right person the right question, and they were able to tell her for sure if Clint was where she thought he was or if she was going in the totally wrong direction.

Hydra had countless bases set up across the country, but only a few Natasha imagined they would take Barton. Ones that they thought were hidden, that Shield would never find. Well too bad, because they were still places that The Black Widow would find. She had narrowed it down to one of three locations, based on what she had learned about Clint's mission, and where he had last been heard from.

And if she was wrong, and Clint wasn't in one of these, well, certainly she would be able to find someone that would be willing to cooperate and spill the beans on where her partner was being held.

In fact, she would probably enjoy being able to take in a little Hydra creep, and wring the information of her partners location out of them.

Her plane was set to take off in twenty minutes, Natasha closed her laptop with a snap, and left her drink to remain sitting at the bar.

As she walked towards her plane (quickly enough to move with speed, not so fast as to draw attention towards herself) Natasha couldn't help but fight with the thought that was bouncing around in her head.

She was finally going to be able to repay her debt, to the archer that had spared her life all those years ago. Now, it was time for her to save his.


End file.
